|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2018‒11‒05
forty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Ginevra Virginia Lombardi,; Rossella Atzori |
| Abstract: | Urban population growth has triggered a process of change in rural areas and landscape patterns. This transformation has a twofold consequence. On one hand, land conversion causes loss of biodiversity and habitat destruction (Deng et al., 2017). On the other hand, higher levels of food demand, together with the reduction of available land, endanger the capability of supplying food at local level. The local food systems and food security is increasingly dependent by trade and transport costs. Local food system conservation is increasingly recognized as a key factor in the pursuit of sustainable and bio based economy perspective. Land food footprint is a significant tool in assessing food self-sufficiency, land displacement and thus food system sustainability. In this paper we adopt a landscape approach to analyse the evolution of land food footprint and landscape diversity in Sardinia over the period 1970-2010 to assess the impact of land use change and food systems evolution. Time series show a decrease in landscape diversity and greater degrees of few landscape elements dominance, agricultural specialization and land food footprint unbalance. In summary, these results show that diversified and traditional landscape have been replaced by specialised, less diverse landscape where labour-intensive crops and intensive agriculture results in environment impact and in integration of local food systems by food imports, resulting in land unbalance (land displacement), in landscape features simplification and in rural settlements abandon. |
| Keywords: | Land food footprint; Landscape diversity; Food planning; Landscape quantitative analysis; Land use. |
| JEL: | Q56 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2018_10.rdf&r=agr |
| By: | Isabelle Tsakok |
| Abstract: | An ownership system, including a system of usufruct rights, that rewards individual initiative and toil. It is feasible for farm/rural families to gain monetarily from risk taking and hard work. Sustained productivity growth, stretched over decades in which the majority of farmers participate in and benefit from, successfully transform agriculture. Such sustained growth requires broad-based public and private investments. Why would private households invest in farming year in, year out, unless they expect to gain monetarily and can easily raise the credit needed? Security of tenure is critical for farmers to invest for growth and profit. This is shown to be true where security of tenure holds and where it does not. While this insight is generally not controversial, what is often controversial is how to achieve it. The case of China’s agricultural and overall economic transformation, starting around 1979, is a dramatic example of the pivotal importance of private incentives anchored in tenure security and private profit. The Household Responsibility System (HRS) was a revolutionary measure in a China, which had implemented collectivized agriculture in accordance to Chairman Mao’s conviction that it was, in fact, superior. In this system, farmers could not see the direct link between their effort and their remuneration. However, after some 30 years (1949-79) of determined collectivization, agricultural performance was still lack luster and poverty extensive. This brief illustrates the power of land tenure security for sustained agricultural productivity and income growth; and the difficulties for political leadership to ensure such security. |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb1832&r=agr |
| By: | Glenn P.Jenkins (Department of Economics, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus); Mikhail Miklyaev (JDINT’L Executive Programs Department of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada and Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Primrose V. Basikiti (Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Elly Preotle (International Development Group LLC) |
| Abstract: | This report presents the results of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of a series of agriculture production and productivity enhancing interventions in Nigeria. More than 20,000 impoverished farmers have received assistance under this program. A CBA was undertaken to assess the financial and economic benefits of adopting best agricultural practices by these farmers in growing crops. While these interventions do improve the households’ incomes across all VCs, the assistance alone will not allow the households to move above the poverty line threshold. Households need to rely on other economic activities, including livestock husbandry, or non-farm employment to graduate from extreme poverty. Acknowledgements This analysis was completed through the financial support of USAID’ through their “Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP II). And its contract with the International Development Group. Contract Number: AID-OAA-I-12-00042/AID-OAA-TO-14-00046. The assistance of Abdoul Murekezi, during the completion of this report is greatly appreciated. |
| Keywords: | cost-benefit analysis, Nigeria, USAID, households. |
| JEL: | D D62 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:402&r=agr |
| By: | Isabelle Tsakok |
| Abstract: | Good access to lucrative markets is vital for farmers to be profitable and productive. This is evident in all agricultures that have successfully transformed. Unless they sell profitably, farmers risk acting against their financial interest by being productive, resulting in surpluses, which lead to price falls when there are gluts, as demand for basic food is typically price and income inelastic. Therefore, if governments want to transform their agricultures, they must provide an environment that enables their farmers to be productive and to sell profitably. Governments that have succeeded in providing such a conducive environment over decades have used a variety of ways, acting along the entire value chain from production, through processing, marketing—domestic and foreign, and on to final consumer demand. Since “no country has ever grown sustainably without growing exports,”1 the current rise of protectionism and the increasing inequality of incomes are threatening to undermine the very engine of growth the global economy and that agriculture and agro-processing need. Governments, however, can do much to assist their smallholders to gain market access. In fact, only they can lay the public foundations of successful market access. The challenge for governments is still to find ways of expanding market access for their farmers that are win-win for all parties involved. In developing countries, measures to expand market access should help smallholders reduce poverty and increase their food security by promoting their productivity growth in a climate-resilient agriculture under climate change, while delivering quality products to consumers at affordable prices. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb1829&r=agr |
| By: | Lev, Larry; Feenstra, Gail; Hardesty, Shermain; Houston, Laurie; Joannides, Jan; King, Robert P. |
| Abstract: | Some specialty food manufacturers are, themselves, farmers who raise a raw product and then "add value" to it by processing it into a specialty food products. These are called "vertically integrated" businesses because they engage in two or more stages of production that are commonly performed by separate companies. For example, a dairy that milks its cows and sells its milk in bulk to another company is NOT vertically integrated. A dairy that milks its cows and then processes that milk into cheese IS vertically integrated. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usdami:278695&r=agr |
| By: | Thanyani Selby Madzivhandila (University of Mpumalanga) |
| Abstract: | The continuous distraction of rural livelihoods activities, loss of lives and displacements of large numbers of rural populations has brought about questioning the applicability of risk and disaster mitigation and management approach implementation in most of developing countries in Southern Africa. The fact that floods are still rendering a huge impact every year in Mozambique, Malawi and even South Africa for example, explains the inadequacy in terms of the ability of these countries to deal with natural hazards. The common explanation of disaster is that its impact causes human, material, economic and environmental losses in such a way that such exceed the ability of the affected communities to cope using their own resources. In other words if the communities which are affected by a natural event has the ability to cope in the aftermath of a hazard, such event would not be regarded as a disaster. That is the occurrence of a hazard does not necessarily lead to a disaster, thus risk and disaster mitigation and management should focus on how communities can be prepared to cope independently during and after a natural hazard has occurred. This paper argue that until appropriate measures are formulated to empower communities to deal with the risk and natural hazards independently, government will always been required to apply a fire fighting approach towards disaster. This paper explores the systems of disaster management in South Africa, looking at its appropriateness, suitability, application and effectiveness. The paper conclude that there is a dare need to formulate proper strategies which are proactive in nature towards dealing with natural events such as drought, heat waves and floods in developing countries such as those Southern Africa. |
| Keywords: | Disaster Management; Natural Hazards, Fire-fighting Approach; South Africa |
| JEL: | R11 I30 O13 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:8209081&r=agr |
| By: | Hubert Ducroque (Agricultural Economist Consultant); Pascal Tillie (European Commission – JRC); Kamel Louhichi (European Commission – JRC); Sergio Gomez-Y-Paloma (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector occupies a central place in Côte d’Ivoire’s economy and development. This report provides a unique and detailed description of the state of the Ivorian agricultural sector, including all agricultural value chains of the country. Agricultural, livestock and fishery productions are reviewed and their dynamics, opportunities and constraints are analysed. Finally, the report revises all agricultural policies and development programs implemented since the 1990s in Côte d’Ivoire as well as the future ones. |
| Keywords: | Food chain, Agricultural policy, Agricultural sector, Africa, Côte d'Ivoire |
| JEL: | Q11 Q13 Q15 Q18 N57 O13 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc107214&r=agr |
| By: | Mary, Sébastien |
| Keywords: | International Trade, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Food Safety and Nutrition |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274282&r=agr |
| By: | Runkel, Marco; Kellner, Maximilian |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the optimal level of public debt when taxes are used not only for funding public expenditures but also for correcting externalities from climate change. Taking into account externalities may imply the optimal policy to deviate from tax smoothing. Provided accumulated marginal damages from today's consumption are larger than those from tomorrow's consumption, the inclusion of environmental externalities decreases (increases) optimal public debt if tax rates are on the increasing (decreasing) side of the Laffer curve. The reversed holds if the accumulated marginal damage increases over time. Allowing for endogenous adaptation investments reduces the deviation from tax smoothing. |
| Keywords: | environmental externality,public debt,tax smoothing |
| JEL: | H23 H63 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc18:181639&r=agr |
| By: | Isabelle Tsakok |
| Abstract: | Why do farmers need access to newer technologies on a recurrent basis? Most subsistence farmers already know how to farm and undertake post-harvest processing from their parents. The main reason to turn to technology is that traditional techniques for subsistence agriculture are grossly insufficient when it comes to generating the productivity and output growth required to adequately lift millions out of poverty and keep them out of it. “Efficient but poor” as Schultz (1964:37) put it, because “there are comparatively few significant inefficiencies in the allocation of factors of production in traditional agriculture.” Farmers in traditional agricultures are poor because they are trapped in low productivity systems condemning them to subsistence level equilibrium. For the transformation of traditional agriculture, Schultz emphasized the critical importance of public investment in the human capital of farmers and their access to new science-based agricultural technologies. We all live today in a profoundly changing world, not one of static equilibrium. Fundamental forces of change, which are operating to transform our world include climate change; deepening globalization; the revolution in information & communications technologies (ICT); biological and biotechnological advances; relentless urbanization; and continued automation. These represent tremendous opportunities and threats to all, in particular to the vulnerable, many of whom are smallholders living on the edge of subsistence. Three daunting challenges need to be addressed. With climate change, effective access to new technologies can make farming climate-resilient and productive; the difference between a better life and bare survival for smallholders. With increasing resource scarcity, the new technologies must be resource saving and environmentally sustainable. With fast globalizing markets and value chains, new technologies must assist not only small farmers, but also small agro-entrepreneurs, enabling them to tap into expanding markets of the Supermarket Revolution. |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb1823&r=agr |
| By: | Bougherara, Douadia; Piet, Laurent |
| Abstract: | A growing number of studies in finance and economics seek to explain insurance choices us- ing the assumptions advanced by behavioral economics. One recent example in agricultural economics is the use of cumulative prospect theory (CPT) to explain farmer choices regarding crop insurance coverage levels (Babcock, 2015). We build upon this framework by deriving willingness to pay (WTP) for insurance programs under alternative assumptions, thus extend- ing the model to incorporate farmer decisions regarding whether or not to purchase insurance. Our contribution is twofold. First, we study the sensitivity of farmer WTP for crop insurance to the inclusion of CPT parameters. We find that loss aversion and probability distortion in- crease WTP for insurance while risk aversion decreases it. Probability distortion in losses plays a particularly important role. Second, we study the impact of yield distribution skewness on farmer WTP assuming CPT preferences. We find that WTP decreases when the distribution of yields moves from negatively- to positively-skewed and that the combined effect of proba- bility weighting in losses and skewness has a large negative impact on farmer WTP for crop insurance. |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inrasl:279351&r=agr |
| By: | Gharleghi, Behrooz; Popov, Vladimir |
| Abstract: | Agricultural productivity in the Central Asian republics of the USSR stopped growing from the late 1970s and declined in the 1990s when the transition to the market occurred. As a result, most agricultural goods were uncompetitive on the both the domestic market and the world market, and the agricultural trade balance deteriorated as imports grew faster than exports. Although there have been a few success stories – cereals in Uzbekistan, meat production in Azerbaijan, oil seeds in Kazakhstan – the overall picture is not one of agriculture as the driving force of the region’s future growth. We argue, however, that the relative decline of agriculture is consistent with international experience. In ‘economic miracle’ countries, the share of agriculture fell faster than in other countries because the sector donated labour to the industrial sector, which was the engine of growth. The problem in Central Asia is not the slow growth of agricultural output, but the slow growth of productivity in agriculture, which fails to increase the competitiveness of agricultural products and leads to an inability of the rural population to move to more productive industrial activities. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture productivity, Central Asia, Competitiveness |
| JEL: | Q10 Q18 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89520&r=agr |
| By: | Carolina Milhorance de Castro (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "The Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA Africa) programme implemented pilot initiatives to procure food for school meals locally from smallholders, funded by the Brazilian government and the UK Department for International Development, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme. In Mozambique, the programme sought to contribute to the consolidation of a national strategy of institutional food procurement, combining cross-sectoral dialogue at the national level and piloting at district level, supporting production and commercialisation". (...) |
| Keywords: | PAA, Africa, contributions, National, School, Feeding, Programme, Mozambique |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:389&r=agr |
| By: | Martin T. Bohl; Christoph Sulewski |
| Abstract: | Departing from the lively discussion about the Masters' hypothesis, this paper examines whether increasing activities of long-short speculators in commodity futures markets have a stabilizing or destabilizing impact on price movements. Our analysis covers five agricultural commodities traded in the US market over the period from 2006 to 2017. We conclude that long-short speculators do not destabilize commodity prices. Instead, we find evidence that activities of longshort speculators reduce volatility in the markets under scrutiny. |
| Keywords: | Commodity Futures Markets, GARCH models, Long-short Speculators |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cqe:wpaper:7718&r=agr |
| By: | Martin T. Bohl; Pierre L. Siklos; Martin Stefan; Martin Claudia Wellenreuther |
| Abstract: | Previous literature on price discovery in commodity markets is mainly focused on the question whether the spot or the futures market dominates the price discovery process. Little attention, however, has been paid to the question how the price discovery process is affected by futures speculation. Using different measures for speculation and hedging and a new price discovery metric, the present study analyzes this relationship for various agricultural commodities. The results indicate that speculative activity generally reduces the level of noise in the futures market, while increasing the relative contribution of the futures market to the price discovery process. |
| Keywords: | Commodity Markets, Futures Speculation, Price Discovery |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cqe:wpaper:7518&r=agr |
| By: | Rahman, Andaleeb |
| Keywords: | Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Food Safety and Nutrition, Household and Labor Economics |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273882&r=agr |
| By: | Sukati, Mphumuzi |
| Abstract: | This paper pursues a simple analysis of a static relationship between national income and income distribution, and obesity/overweight and undernutrition in African countries. From intuition, a relation between national income (GDP/Capita) and malnutrition is expected. Countries that have higher income are expected to have higher prevalence of obesity/overweight. Likewise, countries with higher income should have lower levels of undernutrition. This paper tests this hypothesis using macroeconomic data. The paper also analyses the role of income inequality, as measured by the GINI coefficient, as a potential driver of malnutrition. In this case, countries that have high levels of income inequality are expected to have coexistent high levels of both obesity and undernourishment. Results of this analysis show that there is a correlation between income and malnutrition. However, this relationship is weak, with a correlation coefficient of less than 50% for both undernourishment and overweight/obesity. However, the signs are as expected, even when running a simple regression of the variables. Higher national income has a positive relationship with obesity and negative relationship with undernourishment. From the regression, only the coefficient on undernourishment is significant at 5% confidence level. No significant relationship was found between income distribution and malnourishment, even on the extended logistic model. These finding are not realistically surprising. Higher income does not guarantee good nutrition, although poorer countries are expected to have high level of undernourishment. Also, there is a friction in the response of undernutrition to growth in GDP. Given the low-income elasticity of demand for food, higher income is not expected to be strongly linked to obesity. This could also be an explanation for the low response of malnutrition to income inequalities, although this latter relationship needs to be tested further with data sets of longer duration, in a time series approach. As such, it is important to lobby governments to mainstream food and nutrition security in other initiatives that increase national income, and to promote direct interventions that reduce the prevalence of undernourishment as part of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will ensure that high national income translates to reduction in malnutrition prevalence across countries. |
| Keywords: | Malnutrition; Obesity; Undernourishment; GDP/Capita; GINI Coefficient |
| JEL: | E00 I1 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2018–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89403&r=agr |
| By: | Nina Knittel (University of Graz, Austria); Martin W. Jury (University of Graz, Austria); Birgit Bednar-Friedl (University of Graz, Austria); Gabriel Bachner (University of Graz, Austria); Andrea Steiner (University of Graz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | We investigate climate change impacts transferred via foreign trade to Germany, a country which is heavily engaged in international trade. Specifically, we look at temperature changes and the associated labour productivity losses at a global scale until 2050. We assess the effects on Germany’s imports and exports by means of a global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. To address uncertainty, we account for two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP2 and SSP3) and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) using projections from five global climate models. We find that average annual labour productivity for high intensity work declines by up to 31% (38% with the higher emission scenario) in South-East Asia and the Middle East by 2050 (relative to a 2050 baseline without climate change). As a consequence, Germany’s imports from regions outside Europe are lower by up to 2.4%, while imports from within Europe partly compensate this reduction. Also Germany’s exports to regions outside Europe are lower but total exports increase slightly due to higher exports to EU regions. Germany’s GDP and welfare, however, are negatively affected with a loss of up to -0.41% and -0.46%, respectively. The results highlight that overall positive trade effects for Germany constitute a comparative improvement rather than an absolute gain with climate change. |
| Keywords: | Heat stress; Climate change; Labour productivity shocks; International trade; Computable general equilibrium; Germany |
| JEL: | C68 I15 F18 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2018-20&r=agr |
| By: | Negi, Digvijay S. |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274481&r=agr |
| By: | Mònica Guillen-Royo (TIK Centre, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Although sustainable consumption is frequently associated with lower quality of life, empirical evidence indicates that practices linked to reducing the environmental impact of travelling, heating, cooling and food consumption are compatible with high levels of wellbeing. More and more people are shopping on-line, which increases the efficiency of consumption, expands choice and information – while also intensifying exposure to consumerism and materialistic messages. This article explores the relationship between sustainable consumption and wellbeing and the role of on-line shopping, analysing survey data from a representative sample in Norway. Wellbeing is addressed in its affective (happiness), cognitive (satisfaction) and eudaimonic dimensions (subjective vitality). Sustainable consumption practices are investigated through a variable that captures the extent to which respondents choose sustainable alternatives as regards travel, household energy use and food. Results based on regression analysis indicate that sustainable consumption practices and wellbeing are positively associated in Norway, but that the relationship weakens when psychological and lifestyle factors are taken into account. The study also shows that internet shopping does not reduce the strength of the relationship, and might even increase life satisfaction by lowering the costs of engaging in sustainable consumption practices. |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20181022&r=agr |
| By: | Ziolkowska, Jad R. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Agribusiness Economics and Management, Rural/Community Development |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274355&r=agr |
| By: | MEYER Ferdinand (Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) (Pretoria, South Africa)); TRAUB Lulama Ndibongo (Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) (Pretoria, South Africa)); DAVIDS Tracy (Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) (Pretoria, South Africa)); CHISANGA Brian (Indaba Agriculture Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) (Lusaka, Zambia)); KACHULE Richard (University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) (Lilongwe, Malawi)); TOSTAO Emilio (Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique)); VILANCULOS Orcidia (Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique)); POPAT Meizal (Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique)); BINFELD Julian (Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) (Columbia, United States)); BOULANGER Pierre (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This report presents both methodology and results of a medium-term outlook for soybean markets in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Soybeans are attractive crops for many economic, social and environmental reasons, and the sector appears to have a promising future in Eastern and Southern Africa. For instance it can improve soils, provide a value added processing activity and offer an alternative crop to be produced by both small holders and commercial farms. Looking the 2026/2027 horizon, this medium-term outlook takes the latest trends, policies and market information into consideration, but remains subject to many uncertainties on upcoming market development, macroeconomics or policy changes. |
| Keywords: | outlook, soybean, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc109252&r=agr |
| By: | Shin, Soye |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty, Experimental Economics, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274477&r=agr |
| By: | Hennessy, David A. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Food Safety and Nutrition, Ag Finance and Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274359&r=agr |
| By: | Voica, Daniel C. |
| Keywords: | Food Safety and Nutrition, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273885&r=agr |
| By: | Voica, Daniel C. |
| Keywords: | Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273828&r=agr |
| By: | Quentin Perrier (CIRED); Philippe Quirion (CIRED, CNRS) |
| Abstract: | The threat of climate change requires investment to be rapidly shifted from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sectors, and this shift generates heated debates about its impact on employment. Although many employment studies exist, the economic mechanisms at play remain unclear. Using stylized CGE and IO models, we identify and discuss three channels of job creation resulting from an investment shift: positive employment impacts arising from targeting sectors with a high labour share in value added, low wages and low import rates. Results are robust across both models, except for the last, which only occurs in IO. We then undertake a numerical analysis of two policies: solar panel installation and weatherproofing. These investments both yield a positive effect on employment, a result which is robust across models, due to a high labour share and low wages in these sectors. The results are roughly similar in IO and CGE for solar; for weatherproofing, the results are higher in IO because of low import rates, by a factor ranging from 1.19 to 1.87. Our conclusions challenge the idea that renewable energies boost employment by reducing imports, but they also suggest that an employment double dividend might exist when encouraging low-carbon labour-intensive sectors. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energies, Investment, Employment, CGE, Input-Output |
| JEL: | C67 C68 E24 Q42 Q43 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2018.13&r=agr |
| By: | Jordan Adamson (Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University) |
| Abstract: | How and why do agglomerations emerge? While economic historians emphasize trade and economic geographers emphasize variety, we still don’t understand the role of coordination. I ?ll this gap by extending the model of Fudenberg and Ellison (2003) to formalize Smith’s (1776) theory of agglomeration. I then test the model in a laboratory experiment and ?nd individuals tend to coalesce purely to coordinate exchange, with more agglomeration when there is a larger variety of goods in the economy. I also ?nd that tying individuals to the land reduces agglomeration, but magni?es the effect of variety. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Coordination, Agglomeration, Pure-Exchange |
| JEL: | R12 C92 F19 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:18-12&r=agr |
| By: | Michuda, Aleksandr |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Behavioral & Institutional Economics, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274365&r=agr |
| By: | Hennessy, David A. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Industrial Org./Supply Chain Management |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274324&r=agr |
| By: | Diewert, Erwin |
| Abstract: | Statistical agencies increasingly are able to collect detailed price and quantity information from retailers on sales of consumer products. Thus elementary price indexes (which are indexes constructed at the first stage of aggregation for closely related products) can now be constructed using this price and quantity information, whereas previously, statistical agencies had to construct elementary indexes using just retail outlet collected information on prices alone. Thus superlative indexes can now be constructed at the elementary level, which in theory, should lead to more accurate Consumer Price Indexes. However, retailers frequently sell products at heavily discounted prices, which lead to large increases in purchases of these products. This volatility in prices and quantities will generally lead to a chain drift problem; i.e., when prices return to their “normal†levels, quantities purchased are frequently below their “normal†levels and this leads to a downward drift in a superlative price index. The paper addresses this problem and looks at the likely bias in various index number formulae that are commonly used. The bias estimates are illustrated using some scanner data on the sales of frozen juice products that are available online. |
| Keywords: | Jevons, Dutot, Carli, Unit Value, Laspeyres, Paasche |
| JEL: | C43 C81 E31 |
| Date: | 2018–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:pmicro:erwin_diewert-2018-10&r=agr |
| By: | Eili Skrivervik (TIK Centre, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The growing global population and awareness of the unsustainability of livestock production has led consumers, companies, organizations and governments to consider entomophagy (eating insects) as a more sustainable option. Minilivestock offers advantages over traditional livestock production: with greater diversity, higher nutritional levels, higher energy efficiency, higher reproductive rates, lower environmental footprint, and lower costs. This article aims to demonstrate how the successful implementation of entomophagy in the West can positively contribute to the bioeconomy. The article does this through exploring entomophagy, presenting novel research on entrepreneurs in insect farming, and introducing food waste as a free, plentiful and sustainable feed resource for insect farms. Although none of the insect farms included in this research showed any links between insect farms and food waste reduction this is expected to change as the industry matures. |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20181021&r=agr |
| By: | Fabrizio Cafaggi (Italian Council of State); Paola Iamiceli (University of Trento) |
| Abstract: | The report provides an overview on legislation adopted EU Member States in the area of unfair trading practices in business-to-business relations and related enforcement mechanisms, building on previous research and studies. |
| Keywords: | Unfair trading practices, food chain, CAP, EU |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc112654&r=agr |
| By: | Jose Pizarro; Eduardo S. Schwartz |
| Abstract: | This article develops and implements a Real Option approach to value renewable natural resources in the case of Marine Fisheries. The model includes two sources of uncertainty: the resource biomass and the price of fish, and it can be used by fisheries to optimally adapt their harvesting strategy to changing conditions in these stochastic variables. The model also features realistic operational cash flows and fisheries can shutdown and reopen operations. Using publicly available data on the British Columbia halibut fishery, the required parameters are estimated and the model solved. The results indicate that the conservation of the biomass is both optimal from a financial and a social perspective. The approach could be extended to other fish species and natural resources if the appropriate data were available. |
| JEL: | G10 G13 G31 Q20 Q22 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25140&r=agr |
| By: | Glenn P. Jenkins (Department of Economics, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus); Mikhail Miklyaev (JDINT’L Executive Programs Department of Economics, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and Senior Associate/ Economist Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Gift Khozapi (Senior Analyst Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Elly Preotle (LEAP-II Chief of Party/Contract Manager International Development Group LLC) |
| Abstract: | The objective of the program being analyzed is to promote optimal nutrition of infants, provide water and sanitation access, and improve hygiene practices. This cost effectiveness analysis undertaken here, demonstrates that there is a substantial financial and economic gain from investing in integrated interventions that improve water and sanitation services as well as promote child health and nutrition through exclusive breastfeeding for infants under six months. The expected incremental health benefits far outweigh the incremental costs of investing in these interventions. The impact of this project has been substantial as demonstrated by the result of the cost effectiveness analysis. Acknowledgements This analysis was completed through the financial support of USAID’ through their “Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP II). And its contract with the International Development Group. Contract Number: AID-OAA-I-12-00042/AID-OAA-TO-14-00046. The assistance of Muhammad Bello, Abdoul Murekezi, and Marzhan Tazhenov during the completion of this report is greatly appreciated. Disclaimer The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. bank which is likely to gather the NPLs of the banks but rather a reconstruction and development financing institution which can provide solutions and spin back into the economy economically viable projects. |
| Keywords: | : Nigeria, cost effectiveness analysis, potable water, sanitation services, exclusive breast feeding. |
| JEL: | D6 D D62 D I38 I32 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:400&r=agr |
| By: | LATIFAH AMIN (NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA) |
| Abstract: | In the 21st century, many women played a dual role as working women and mothers. Breast feeding has been a problem for many working mother due to lack of privacy and adequate time in the working place. Genetically modified (GM) mother?s milk could provide an alternative to human breast milk and formula milk for babies, but GM food has often been criticised. The purpose of this study is to identify the relevant factors influencing public attitude to mother?s milk produced in genetically modified (GM) cows and to analyze the relationships among all the factors using structural equation model. A survey was carried out on 434 respondents from various stakeholder groups in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Results of the survey have confirmed that public attitudes towards complex issues such as GM mother?s milk should be seen as a multi-faceted process. The most important direct predictors for the encouragement of GM mother?s milk are the specific application-linked variables: perceived risks, perceived benefits and familiarity of GM mother?s milk as well as two general attitude variables: general promise of modern biotechnology and societal value. Encouragement of GM mother?s milk also involves the interplay between other factors such as threatening natural order of things, the need for labelling, the need for patenting and confidence on regulation. The research findings serve as a useful database for understanding the social construct of public acceptance of GM foods in developing country. |
| Keywords: | Public attitude, predictors, GM mother?s milk, structural equation modelling |
| JEL: | D12 C39 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:8208831&r=agr |
| By: | Nehring, Richard; Gillespie, Jeffrey; Harris, J. Michael Harris |
| Abstract: | A Stochastic Production Frontier (SPF) model is estimated for U.S. dairy farms to examine the productivity of organic and non-organic dairy farms by system and size. For both systems, size is the major determinant of competitiveness based on various measures of productivity and returns to scale. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2018–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273123&r=agr |
| By: | Obembe, Oladipo S. |
| Keywords: | Natural Resource Economics, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274309&r=agr |
| By: | Galor, Oded (Brown University); Savitskiy, Viacheslav (Brown University) |
| Abstract: | This research explores the origins of loss aversion and the variation in its prevalence across regions, nations and ethnic group. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that the evolution of loss aversion in the course of human history can be traced to the adaptation of individuals to the asymmetric effects of climatic shocks on reproductive success during the Malthusian epoch in which subsistence consumption was a binding constraint. Exploiting regional variations in the vulnerability to climatic shocks and their exogenous changes in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that consistent with the predictions of the theory, individuals and ethnic groups that are originated in regions marked by greater climatic volatility have higher predisposition towards loss-neutrality, while descendants of regions in which climatic conditions tended to be spatially correlated, and thus shocks were aggregate in nature, are characterized by greater intensity of loss aversion. |
| Keywords: | loss aversion, cultural evolution, evolution of preferences, natural selection, Malthusian epoch, growth, development |
| JEL: | D81 D91 Z10 O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11816&r=agr |
| By: | Zhao, Jianmei |
| Keywords: | Household and Labor Economics, Agribusiness Economics and Management, Rural/Community Development |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274178&r=agr |
| By: | Schiff, Maurice |
| Abstract: | Analysis of open-access common-property natural resource (NR) has occurred under “low” congestion (LC) – where 𝐴𝐶 and 𝑀𝐶 increase with output 𝑄 – and has for the most part ignored the more important congestion categories where 𝐴𝐶 (𝑀𝐶) is backward-bending (negative) and welfare and NR losses are significantly greater. This paper identifies two such categories, “high” (HC) and “super” (SC) congestion, and examines the impact of open access on steady-state welfare, NR, employment, output and price in a general equilibrium model. Main findings are: i) Welfare and NR costs (and optimal taxes) are a multiple or orders of magnitude greater under HC and (especially) SC than under LC, with trade further – and always – reducing an open-access exporter’s NR and welfare. These results are robust to alternative parameter values and functional forms and greatly increase the importance of regulation; ii) An optimal tax raises price and reduces output under autarky in the case of LC and HC but reduces price and raises output under SC, with significantly larger gains; iii) Studies conducted under LC show trade between open-access developing country C1 and regulated but otherwise identical C2 reduces C1’s welfare and both C1’s and global NR, and though the same holds under HC, the opposite holds under SC; iv) Trade between two open-access countries – say, a developing and an emerging one – with different externality (population) levels raises global output and welfare, improves NR’s global efficiency, raises (does not affect) its level, and reduces international inequality; and v) Emigration’s welfare gain is much larger under SC than under LC, especially if migration results in LC after migration. Application to other issues and policy implications are provided. |
| Keywords: | Open Access,natural resource,unexamined high congestion,autarky and trade,aquaculture |
| JEL: | D62 F18 Q22 Q27 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:263&r=agr |
| By: | Vivek Ghosal; Andreas Stephan; Jan F. Weiss |
| Abstract: | Using a unique plant-level dataset we examine total factor productivity (TFP) growth and its components, related to efficiency change and technical change. The data we use is from Sweden and for their pulp and paper industry, which is heavily regulated due to its historically large contribution to air and water pollution. Our paper contributes to the broader empirical literature on the Porter Hypothesis, which posits a positive relationship between environmental regulation and “green” TFP growth of firms. Our exercise is innovative as Sweden has a unique regulatory structure where the manufacturing plants have to comply with plant-specific regulatory standards stipulated at the national level, as well as decentralized local supervision and enforcement. Our key findings are: (1) prudential regulation limits expansion of plants with high initial pollution; (2) regulation, however, is not conducive to plants’ “green” technical change, which provides evidence against the recast version of the Porter Hypothesis; (3) decentralized command-and-control regulation is prone to regulatory bias, entailing politically motivated discriminatory treatment of plants with otherwise equal characteristics. |
| Keywords: | pollution, environmental regulations, plant-specific regulation, decentralized regulation, enforcement, political-economy, Porter Hypothesis, TFP, productivity, efficiency, technical change, pulp and paper industry |
| JEL: | D24 L51 L60 Q52 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7255&r=agr |
| By: | Gonzalez, Julia |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Org./Supply Chain Management, Food Safety and Nutrition |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273980&r=agr |
| By: | Stigler, Matthieu M. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Research Methods/Econometrics/Stats |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274343&r=agr |
| By: | Mitchell, Lorraine S. |
| Keywords: | International Trade, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Industrial Org./Supply Chain Management |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274268&r=agr |
| By: | Sellars, Sarah |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness Economics and Management, Production Economics, Ag Finance and Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:273796&r=agr |